4
HEPPNER GAZETTE TIMES, HEPPNER, OREGON, THUR SDAY, FEB. 24, 1927.
PAGE THREE
Her Home Now Temporary White House
Hue
""'V' w5'-
Mill
What's Gone Before.
It is 1KG8 and the Pacific Railroad
has reached its newest "farthest
west" Benton, Wyoming, a town de
scribed as "roaring," as each new
terminus, temporarily, was.
Frank Beeson, a young man from
Albany, N. Y., comes here because
he is in search of health and Benton
is considered "high and dry."
Edna Montoyo, a fellow passenger
on the train from Omaha, impresses
Beeson with the beauty of her blue
eyes and the style of her apparel.
Equally she astonished him by taking
a "smile of brandy before breakfast.
A brakeman tells Beeson she has "fol
lowed her man" to Benton.
Jim, a typical western ruffian whom
sho knows apparent well insults and
is floored by Beeson whose prowess
impresses the passengers.
Col. Lundcrson and "Bill" Brady
volunteer to entertain young Beeson.
Frank avoids being caught by any
of the numerous gambling games, but
is robbed of all his money.
In the Big Tent
There was no trace of the round
faced man and a short conversation
with the clerk convinced me of the
slimncss of the chance to recover my
property. So I borrowed $20 from
him with my trunk as security until
1 could hear from home.
When I stepped outside twilight
hnd deepened into dusk, the air was
almost frosty, and this main street
bad been made garish by the nightly
illumination.
All up and down the street coaloil
torches or flambeaus, ruddily em
bossing the heads of the players and
onlookers, flared like votive braziers
above the open-air gambling games.
The noise of the day had redoubled.
To the exclamations, the riotous
shouts and whoops, the harangues of
the barkers, and now and then a re
volver shot, there had been added the
inciting music of stringed instru
ments, cymbals and such some tit
dunce measures, some solo, while im
mediately at hand sounded the shuf
fling stamp of waltz, hoe-down and
cotillion.
Night ut Benton plainly had begun
with a gusto.
It Btirred one's blood. It culled
it summoned with such a promise of
variety, of adventure, of flotsnm and
jetsnm and shuttlecock of chances,
that I, a youth with twenty-one dol
lars and a half at disposal, all his
ciothes on his back, man's weapon at
his belt, and an appointment with a
lady as his future, forgetful of his
I ast and courageous in present, strode
confidently, even recklessly down, as
ceger as one to the manners of the
country born.
There was no need for me to in
quire my way to the trysting place.
I saw a large canvas sign "The Big
Tent" suspended in the full shine of
a locomotive reflector. Beneath it the
people were streaming into the wide
entrance to a great canvas hall.
Once across the threshold, I halted,
taken nil aback by the hubbub and
the kaleidoscopic spectacle thut bent
jpon my cars and eyes.
The floor, of planed boards, teem
ing with men, women and children.
Along one side there was an ornate
bar glittering with cut glass and sil
ver and backed by a largo plate mir
ror that repeated the lights, the peo
ple, the glasses, decanters and pit
chers, and the figures of the white
coated, busy bartenders.
To the bidding of orchestra music
women and men (with hats upon their
hends nml cigars in their mouths),
and men together, whirled in couples,
so that the floor trembled totlie boot
heels.
Scattered thickly over the inter
vening space there were games of
chance, every description, surrounded
by groups looking on or playing.
Through the atmosphere blue with
the smoke, women, mnny of them
lavishly costumed as if for a ball,
strolled, risking or responding to gal
lantries. Then, as I advanced resolutely
among the gaming tables, I felt a
cuff upon the shoulders and heard a
bluff voice in my ear.
"Hello, old hoss! How are tricks by
this time?"
Facing about quickly I saw Jim of
the railway coach fracas.
He was grinning affably, apparently
none the worse for wear save a slight
ly swollen lower lip.
"Shake," he proffered, extending
his hand. "No hard feelin's here. I'm
no Injun. You knocked the red-eye
out o' me."
I shook hands with him. "Hardly
knowed you in that new rig," he went
on. "Now you're talkin.' That's
sense. Trail along with me. Let's
likker!"
"Another time, sir," I begged off,
"I have an engagement this eve
ning "
"O' course you have. Don't I know
that, too? Didn't she tell me to keep
my eyes skinned for you, and to cot
ton on to you when you come in?
Vi e ll line her, after we likker up.
"She did?"
"Why not? Ain't I a friend of hern?
You bet! Finest little woman in Ben
ton. Trail to the trough along with
me, pardner, and name your favor
ite." "I'd rather not drink," I essayed.
"()' course you'll drink!" he said.
"Any gent I ax to drink has got to
drink! Name your pizen make It
champagne, if that's your brand. But
the drinks are on me." -
So willy-nilly I was brought to the
bar.
"Straight goods and the best you've
got," my pilot blared. "None o' your
agency whiskey either. What's
yourn?" he asked me.
"The same as yours, sir," I brave
ly replied.
We drank. The stuff may have been
pure; at least it was stout and cut
fiery way down my unwonted throat;
the one draught infused me with a
swagger and a sudden rosy view of
life through temporary mist of water
ing eyes.
We wended a leisurely way among
games of infinite variety and"had by
no means completed the tour when
we met My Lady. She detached her
self, as if cognizant of our approach,
from a little group of four or five,
and turned for me with hand out
stretched, a gratifying flush upon her
spirited face.
"You are here, then?" she greeted.
I made a leg, with my best bow, not
omitting to remove my hat and cigar,
while agreeably conscious of her ap
proving gaze.
I am here, madam, in the Big
Tent!"
Her small warm hand acted as if
unreservedly mine, for the moment.
About her there was a tingling ele
ment of the friendly, even of the in-tir.nte.
"You got your outfit I see," she
smiled.
"Yes. Am I correct?"
"You have saved yourself annoy
ance, loull do," she nodded. "Have
you played yet? Win, or lose?"
"I did not come to pifi, madam,"
said I. "Not at a table, that is."
Whereupon I must have returned her
guze so glowingly as to embarrass
her. Yet she was not displeased; and
in that costume and with that liquor
still coursing through my veins 1 felt
equal to any retort.
But you should play. You are
heeled?"
"I am prepared for all emergencies,
madam, certainly," I averred with
proper dignity. Not for the world
would I have confessed otherwise.
Sooth to say, I had the sensation of
boundless wealth!
"That is good. Shall we walk a
little? And when you play come
litre." We stepped apart from the
listeners. "When yo uplay, follow the
lead of Jim. He'll not lose, and I in
tend that you shan't either. But
you must play, for the sport of it.
Everybody games, in Benton."
"So I judge, madam," I assented.
"Under your chnperonage I am ready
to take any risk, the gaming table
being among the least."
"Prettily said, sir," she compliment
ed.
Frankly to say, I strutted as a
young man will when "fortified" and
elevated from the station of nonde
script stranger to that of favored
benu.
My Lady made no mention of any
husband, which might have been odd
in the East, but did not impress me
as especially odd Tiere in the demo
cratic Far West. The women ap
peared to have nn independence of
action.
"Shall we risk a piny or two?" she
proposed. "Are you acquainted with
three-card monte?"
"Indifferently, madam," said I. "But
I am green at all gambling devices."
"You shall learn," she encouraged
lightly. "In Benton as in Rome, you
know! Are you disposed to win a
Her small warm
hand acted as if
unreservedly mine
for the moment.
About her there
wns a tingling cl
em e n t of the
friendly, even of
the intimate.
"You got your
outfit I see," she
smiled.
"Yes. Am I correct?"
little game and flout the danger of
losing?"
"I am in Benton to win," I valiant
ly asserted.
She conducted me to the nearest
monte game, where the "spieler" a
smooth-faced lad of not more than
nineteen sat behind his three-legged
little table. A handsome boy he was.
"How goes it tonight, Bob?"
"Slow. There's no nerve or money
in this camp any more."
"I'll not have Benton slandered,"
My Lady gaily retorted. "We'll buck
your game, Bob. But you must be
easy on us. Will you play for a dol
lar?" she challenged.
"I'll play for two bits, tonight. Any
thing to start action."
She fumbled at her reticule, but I
was before-hand.
"No, no." , And I fished into my
pocket. "Allow me. I will furnish
the funds if you will do the playing."
"Well," she consented, "if you say
30. Partners it is."
We won a dollar and moved off.
I was conscious that the youth's
brown eyes briefly flicked after us
with a peculiar glint.
We found Jim, a winner at another
monte game.
"The queen is your card," cried the
spieler. "My hand against your eyes
vou i-re set? Theic you are. Don't
be pikers. Let us have a little sport.
Stake a dollar. Why, you'd toss a
dollar down your throat you'd lay
a dollar on a cockroach race."
With a muttered "I'll go you an
other turn, Mister," Jim planked down
dollar and faced up the queen of
hearts.
'The money's yours. You never
earned a dollar quicker, I'll wager,
friend," the dealer acknowledged, imperturbable.
From behind the dealer a man
touched him upon the shoulder. He
turned ear; while he inclined farther,
they whispered together, and I wit
nessed an arm steal swiftly forward
at my side, and a thumb and finger
slightly bend up the extreme corner
of the queen.
The hand and arm vanished, when
the dealer fronted us again the queen
was apparently just as before. Only
we who had seen would have marked
the bent corner.
The act had been so clever and so
audacious that I fairly held my
bieath. But the gambler resumed his
flow of talk, while he fingered the
cards as if totally unaware that they
had been tampered with.
His audience hesitated, as if fear
ful of a trick, for the bent corner of
the queen, raising this end a little,
was plain to us who knew. It was
obsurdedly plainl
Jim, a teamster standing by and I
urged by the Lady, put down $2 each
"Give me a chance, gentlemen," said
the spieler. "I shall not proceed with
the play for that picayune sum be
fore me. You wouldn't bet unless you
felt cock-sure of winning. I'll give
you one minute, gentlemen, before
calling all bets off unless you make
the pot worth while."
The threat had effect. Nobody
wished to let that marked card get
away. That was not human nature.
Bets rained upon the table bank
notes, silver half dollars, the rarer
dollar coins, and the common green
backs. "This is the last round, gentlemen,"
the rpieler reminded, "Are you all
ii? You," he said, direct to me. "Are
you in such short circumstances that
you have no spunk? Why, the stakes
you play would not buy refreshments
for the lady."
That was too much! I extracted
my twenty-dollar note, and deaf to a
quickly breathed "Wait" from My
Lariy 1 planked it down before him.
She should know me for a man of de
cision! "Tiiere, sir," saiu I, "i am betting
twenty-two dollars in all, which is
my limit tonight."
"You, sir," and he addressed Jim.
"They are backing you. Which do
say is the queen? Lay your finger on
her."
Jim did so.
"You sir, then." And he addressed
me. "You are the heaviest better.
Suppose you turn the card for your
self and those other gentlemen."
My hand trembled. There were six
ty or seventy dollnrs upon the table,
and my own contribution was my last
cent!
I turned the card the card with
the bent corner, of which I was cer
tain as of my own name; I faced it
up, confidently, my capital already
doubled; and amidst a burst of as
tonished cries I stared dumfounded.
It was the eight of clubs!
Copyright by Edwin L. Sabin.
Next Week; Broke and Alone,
pETFOK-E" MAfSEIACB A
WOMAN THIMKS or A MAM-AFreE-THFf
Arte TIED Of
HTtWK$ HIM
MISS LEACH HELPS COMPOSE.
Oregon Agricultural College, Cor
vnllis, Feb. 24. Wilma Leach of Lex
ington, senior in home economics, has
helped compose the interpretative
dances for the operetta, "Princess
Chrysanthemum," to be given by the
students of the Corvallis high school.
The students taking the course,
pageant as part of the terms work,
in the selection of themes, music,
dances, and costumes for pngcants.
Each student develops in detail a
pageant as part of the termm's work.
Miss Leach is a member of Alpha
Chi Omega, national social sorority.
Piano For Sale Vicinity of Heppner.
One of America's finest pianos to
be sold at largo price reduction. Cash
or terms $100 monthly to responsible
party. If interested in seeing this
bargain, write C. F. Hondrick, piano
broker and adjuster, 66 Front St.,
Portland, Ore. 48-61
TO RENT Furnished residence, 6
rooms, sleeping porch, bath. Inquire
thia office. 47-9,
Me-o-wl
Bertha Tom Says he'll go crazy if
I don't marry him.
Her Friend Poor Tom I There's
not much hope for him either way.
Simply Ridiculous
Barking Did you catch that fox
on horseback?
Dog How silly! Foxes don't ride
horses.
Famous Partnerships
Time & Again.
Lovem & Leavum.
Goodbyedear & Callmeup.
Letekisg & Forgetit.
Waypastmidnight & Wherehaveyou
been. Hereitisnoon & Nodinner ready.
Young & Foolish.
Twins.
Not May Be, But Is
"You needn't look so disgusted,"
said the Joke to the Editor, "for you
may be old yourself some day."
Blonde Bess Opines
And also remember, Archibald,
just because a man may be of
very high calibre, doesn't say he's
a big gun.
Inefficient
Upland Does Jack make a good
policeman?
Down Shucks, no. He couldn't
even arrest your attention.
A Tough Babee!
A wonderful swimmer named Mark
Went swimming'one day in the Dark,
A splash and a Swish
And, oh, the poor Fish
'Cause Mark is inside of a Shark.
Gold Medal Flour (No Ad)
Billings Why does Arthur call his
girl Gold Medal?
Fillings I suppose it's because
she's been through the mill.
And Time to Think It Over
"That's a good gag," exclaimed the
robber, as he stuffed his victim's
mouth.
That's Fair Enough
Visitor What is that historic
looking dwelling?
Trenton Native That's the house
at whic'i Washington would have
stopped at if he had come down this
street.
Oh, Oh, Irene!
Irene Green, just seventeen,
Wore flimsy frocks of crepe de chine,
And when she walked upon the scene,
More Irene than de chine was seen.
The Official Count
Part of a report handed in to the
Watchmaicalit Weekly: "A lively de
bate was held on the subject of fools.
There were eighty present at the
gathering."
Best Leghorn chicks, hatching each
Monday from matured hens, mated
with males from hens with records of
250 to 306 eggs. R. Woolry, Capital
Poultry Farm, 344 S. 25th St., Salem,
Ore.
1 L' 1 HI JS P J -II
MRS. ELMER SCHLESINGER, nee Patterson, of Chicago, offered her pala
tial home in Washington to President and Mrs. Coolidge while exten
sive repairs are being made on the White House. Though ten blocks from
his office, the President and Mrs. Coolidge made this selection from a score
of offprs.
Pure bred Barred Rock Toosters for
sale. MacGuire stock. F. R. Brown,
phone 644, city. 46-7
FOR
mules.
SALE Ten head of work
Timms Bros., lone, Box 186.
Central Market
C. W. McNAMER, Proprietor
FRESH AND CURED MEATS, FISH
AND POULTRY
Call us when you have anything in our
- line to sell.
Phone Main 652
Heppner Gazette Times, Only $2.00 Per Year
Public Sale
at what is known as the CHAS. HUSTON PLACE, 3
miles north of Eight Mile Postoffice on
Saturday, March 5th
Beginning promptly at 10:30 a. m., the following will be sold:
Bay Mule named John.
Bay Mule named Kit.
Brown Mule named Mutt.
Black Mule named Matt.
Black Mule named Francis.
Brown Mule named Bunny.
Brown Mule named Jude.
Bay Mule named Bell.
Bay Mule named Jack.
Brown Mule named Skukum.
Black Mule named Kate.
Brown Mule named Jack.
Grey Mare Horse named Ruth
Blue Gelding Horse named
Blutch.
Bay Mare named Lady.
Bay Gelding named Ginger.
Blue Mare named Bally.
Blue Gelding named Prince.
Spotted Mare named Spott.
Black Gelding named Sharkey
Black Gelding named Demp-
sey.
Black Mare named Colley.
1 10-ft. Double Disc.
1 16-ft. Wooden Harrow.
1 20-Disc Empire Drill.
1 22-Disc Superior Drill.
1 4-Section Weeder.
2 Iron Truck Wagons.
2 3-in. Winona Wagons with
Racks.
1 3 1 -4 in- Winona Wagon with
Rack.
12 Sets Hip Strap Harness.
14 Collars.
1 Blacksmith Outfit comptele.
2 Three-Bottom Oliver Plows.
1 5 Sacks Bluestem Wheat.
49 Sacks Forty Fold Wheat,
treated.
Part of Stack Wheat Hay.
1 Bay Horse named Pete, 5 yrs.
old, wt. 1100.
1 Bay Mule named Mollie, 7
yrs. old, wt. 1000.
1 Black Mule named Nettie, 7
yrs. old, wt. 1 200.
1 Black Mule named Buck, 7
yrs. old, wt. 1000.
1 Sorrel Mule named Babe, 7
yrs. old, wt. 1200.
1 Sorrel Mule named Red, 6
yrs. old,wt. 1000.
1 Grey Mule named Rose, 5 yrs.
M 1000
1 Black Mule named Nibbs, 6
yrs. old, wt. 1000.
1 Black Mule named Bobbie, 6
yrs. old, wt. 1000.
1 12-ft. Peoria Disc Drill.
1 3-Bottom Oliver Plow.
1 1 6-ft. Iron Harrow.
1 8-ft. Disc, Clark.
1 Hero Fanning Mill.
1 Set Blacksmith Tools.
1 Winona Wagon and Rack.
1 Weber Wagon.
1 500-gallon Water Tank.
9 Sets Chain Harness.
LUNCH SERVED AT 12:30
TVvrmc rvf Qcilo Cash in hand, all sums of $20.00 and
lCllllO Ul OaiC. under. All sums over $20.00 secured
bankable notes, due on or before Sept. 1, 1927, at 7 p're't interest
W. H. WEHRUNG, Agent
B. F. Sevdy, Auctioneer Victor G. Peterson, Clerk